Conclusion: Educational Systems and Mnemonic Priorities

Abstract

Whilst this book has focused on applying the models of Extended Mind and Distributed Cognition to aspects of religious practice in early modern England, this is a reflection of the interests and relative expertise of the authors rather than any limitations on the part of the theory. So, in the interests of broadening the horizon of possible fields of inquiry historians might explore with this model, rather than taking a backwards glance this conclusion looks forward to significant shifts in the history of mnemonic practices and theory that came about in the wake of the Reformation that extended beyond a strictly religious sphere. In particular, we examine attempts at a ‘universal Reformation’ (Greengrass et al. 1994: 3) of knowledge in the mid-seventeenth century. Attempts to reform educational practices by the circle around Samuel Hartlib constitute a deliberate form of epistemic engineering. These attempts to form a new cognitive ecology work along similar lines to the religious reform and indeed involve some of the same figures we have previously discussed, chief among them Hezekiah Woodward.